harry houdini, evel knievel, david blaine, showmen all, but what separated daredevils from mere stuntmen may be the backdrop. the tightrope walker perched over niagara falls is as compelling in 2012 as it was in 1876, where a manmade wonder, a bridge, or a building. or a pair of buildings. felipe petite, the man on the wire whose flight of fancy is all the more poignant because that wonder's gone. like petite, felix baumgartner spent years planning the jump, just as others are now planning what may be the next great frontier. a journey to the center of the earth, jules verne for real. to study the origins of life. less than a century ago, pilots were daredevils. charles lyndberg and amelia earhart pushing boundaries that now we take for granted. >> down 2 1/2. without neil armstrong there would be no felix baumgartner. >> one small step for man -- one giant leap for man kind. >> reporter: baumgartner's giant leap didn't defy gravity he submitted to gravity all the way down. david wright, abc news, los angeles. >> it's nothing quite as death-defying as working this show. when i think of b